North Korea appeals to White House to halt release of US comedy film

'The Interview', released later this year, tells the tale of a group of
journalists tasked with assassinating Kim Jong-un

'The Interview', due to be released in October, is a Hollywood comedy blockbuster that mocks North Korean leader Kim Jong-unPhoto: AP

By Julian Ryall, Tokyo

2:40PM BST 17 Jul 2014

Pyongyang has written to the White House to demand that President Barack Obama intervene to halt the release of 'The Interview', a Hollywood comedy blockbuster that pokes fun at Dear Leader Kim Jong-un.

The movie, which is scheduled to be released in October, stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as television journalists who are sent to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

Denouncing the film as the work of "gangster moviemakers", North Korean state media said the storyline is "a wanton act of terror" and has threatened to carry out "merciless countermeasures" unless it is cancelled.

After that initial appeal to Hollywood fell on deaf ears, Pyongyang sent a letter of protest to Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the UN, insisting that permitting the production and distribution of a film based on the assassination of a serving head of state is an "act of war".

The UN has not commented on whether it replied to the message, but Pyongyang is clearly unsatisfied with the international community's failure to similarly condemn the Columbia Pictures movie.

Pyongyang has sent a letter to the office of Mr Obama to protest the film, according to the Voice of America, citing numerous diplomatic sources.

North Korea said 'The Interview' is an insult to its supreme leader.

In a previous statement, state-run news agency KCNA said: "Our military and our people regard the supreme leader as more precious than their own lives."

Washington has declined to comment on the letter, but it is unlikely that Mr Obama will go out of his way to intervene after North Korean media described him as a "crossbreed" and a "wicked black monkey" after his state visit to South Korea in May.

North Korea provided similarly graphic descriptions of Park Geun-hye, the South Korean president, after her summit with Mr Obama, labeling her a "crafty prostitute" under the control of "a powerful pimp" - the US leader.